1. Field of the Invention
A system for collecting refrigerant from a refrigerant system into a recovery tank. The system includes a main compressor unit for compressing the refrigerant and a refrigerant subcooler unit for cooling the refrigerant from the main compressor unit.
2. Prior to Invention
The recovery of used refrigerant from commercial and residential cooling systems is a large business in the United States. Currently, refrigerant R-12, R-22 and R-502 are being recovered in large quantities, and then processed at any of a number of different Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved recycling facilities.
The on-site recovery of refrigerant typically involves the use of any of a number of portable commercially available main compressor units along with a plurality of recovery tanks for collecting the refrigerant for transportation. The recovery tanks can only be partially filled by these commercially available units, thus, a plurality of tanks are required. Otherwise, a service person must transport a partially filled recovery tank back-and-forth between the work site and refrigerant recovery plant a number of times to accomplished the same effect of using plural recovery tanks at one time for a large system recovery or several smaller systems.